


Switched

by Shanoodle



Category: Mother 3
Genre: Spoilers, Switched AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-06-08
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:03:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4096798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shanoodle/pseuds/Shanoodle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Claus confronts his brother in the Cave of the Future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Switched

The path leading to the final Needle lay empty. Claus plods down it, dragging a baseball bat along the rock, scraping the metal against it. The rising and falling of the wind muffles their footsteps.

“Hey,” murmurs Kumatora, gripping the ginger’s shoulder. “You gonna be okay?”

He spins around. “I have to kill my brother. What do you think?!”

She steps back.  "I didn’t mean to–“

Claus raises a hand and faces the path again. "No no, I’m sorry. I just wanted to knock Porky and his commander around until they stopped messing with everything. I can’t even yell at Porky now. And his commander ain’t waiting for me. It’s Lucas.”

The ginger shakes his head.  "I don’t know if I can do it.”

“I think everything’ll turn out okay in the end. You’re strong. And no matter what, we’ve got your back.” Kumatora takes a breath. What else can be said? All they have is a hope that, in the end, everything will turn out okay.

“That being said,” Duster adds, “we can’t take him ourselves. Most of my equipment didn’t even affect him last time. We need you.”

Boney whines. “I hate it as much as you do. But we have to stop him.”

It’s true that the world – what remained of it – is at stake. And he grew up with a lot of the people that now wander the city. Are they family though? No. Not like his brother. Claus pictures every blow he gave Lucas back at the temple, and his heart sinks. If he knew then, would he have fought back?

The Needle shines in the distance. He couldn’t fail. Not here. Not with everybody counting on him. Lucas doesn't need to die. All they have to do is knock him out somehow. Claus would pull the needle, and when the world is reborn, they could make up and explore it together.

The path soon spreads into a plateau. Lucas and the seventh needle are at the center; purple light pulses in the ground beneath them. The commander is on his knees, hand and arm cannon pressed against his helmet, shaking like a branch. Claus and the others stop a few feet away, squinting at him through the Needle’s glow. And the wind rises and falls.

“Lucas?”

The commander’s hand drops to the sword on his hip. He stands up, turns around, and faces the group. His eye scans Claus but remains distant, as though he’s daydreaming. His hand starts to tremble.

Claus starts to open his mouth, but the commander unsheathes his sword, waves the blade around, and points it at the group. Thunder roars through the air, and a moment later, a lightning bolt strikes everybody one by one, knocking them unconscious. It comes toward him, and though the bolt bounces off the Franklin badge, the force shoves the ginger back. The commander has no time to dodge. He falls to a knee but staggers back up, raising his arm cannon. Claus manages to sidestep the following laser blast. The heat it radiates stings his eyes. The ginger forms a physical shield around him. A second laser strikes the part protecting his head.

Claus turns toward his opponent and rushes him, bat raised over his shoulder. The commander fires off another shot, striking his brother’s shielded chest, and brings the sword up. When Claus reaches him, he swings the bat down and clangs it against the sword. Their eyes meet.

“Lucas,” Claus says. “Don’t do this. You can’t–”

The commander again lifts his cannon and fires a yellow beam. The shot hits the shield and dissolves it like fire on paper. Claus pushes him away and regenerates it seconds before the commander slashes at him. Claus brings the bat back up and blocks the attack. His opponent leaps to the side and shoots another shield killer, dissolving the new shield as easily as the first.

“Porky’s gone, Lucas! It’s over!”

Both boys come to a stop, staring at each other.

“He’s sealed away,” Claus continues. “He can’t even touch you. Whatever’s making you do this, you’ve got a chance to fight it now!”

They don’t say anything for a moment. Then, while keeping the same expression, the commander moves to sheathe his sword.

 _He’s giving up,_ Claus thought.  _I got through._

The ginger takes a step forward. And the commander points his weapon straight into the air. A blue-green glow envelopes the commander’s body, and a sphere of light materializes over the tip of his sword, growing to the size of a boulder. Claus’s face freezes. He turns and starts running, jolting from side to side. But hardly a second later, the immense power of PK Love hurtles into Claus anyway. Light flashes; an explosion consumes him. He is knocked stomach-first to the ground near the plateau’s edge, screaming and covering his face. The ringing in his ears drowns out the noise. Every part of him from mind to body burns. He glances down; large holes cover his clothes, and the skin underneath is burnt red and black. The ginger’s surroundings start fading away as though they were a dream.

He’s failed. Lucas would pull the needle, and all life would soon join him and Mom. He’s done the best he could, but it wasn’t enough. In the moments before the Dragon destroys everybody, would they blame him?

An object in his pocket tingles. A light as cold as winter washes over him, and the world comes back into focus. He reaches inside and pulls out the razor and lipstick Ionia gave him. A second later, the memento vanishes.

Out of the corner of his eye, Claus sees the commander leap at him, and the ginger rolls out of the way. His opponent winds up plunging the blade of his sword into the rock. Claus returns and kicks the commander’s legs. Knocked onto the ground, he brings his arm cannon up and takes aim.

For a moment, time slows down. The machinery inside the commander’s weapon glows blue, and a beam starts inching its way out of the barrel. Claus edges out of the line of fire, moving as though he were submerged in a tar pool. A pocket of air behind the needle has fogged up. Strands of red blink in and out of existence.

“ _Lucas,_ ” a voice whispers.

The air springs back to normal, and time speeds back up. The commander’s beam hums past Claus and blows a chunk out of the rocky wall behind him. Spinning around, the ginger generates another shield. His opponent charges, firing off another shield killer. Claus sidesteps the beam, ducks under a sword slash, and headbutts the commander in the stomach. He stumbles backward.

_You will not destroy everything. Not while I’m still up._

The ginger straightens up, holds out both hands, and concentrates. A glow covers him, and the energy of PK Love materializes as a sphere in front of his palms, its size matching the commander’s earlier one. He remembers the Mecha Drago ripping out one of its fangs as it gnawed on his mother. He remembers the Pigmasks changing his home into a place where people only cared about what they could get. And now, Lucas would rather destroy it for a little kid playing king. Kumatora, Duster, Flint, Boney – everyone he loves could die at his brother’s hands. Everything that makes life good means nothing to him. Robot or not, he’s a traitor.

The thoughts whirl through his mind like a tornado within a few seconds, and the PK Love doubles in size, its light flooding his vision. Claus’s hands tremble.

“I don’t care who you are!” he shouts. “I’ll kill you first!”

Claus lifts the sphere over his head and hurls it. The commander flips to the side, but the attack connects with his legs. Another explosion screams, rattling Claus’s eardrums. A shockwave of polygons travels through the air, throwing the ginger’s opponent against the wall. Something snaps. He lands facefirst on the ground. A crack now splits the middle of his helmet, and small fires burn on his charred legs. The ginger marches toward him, raising his bat.

Again, time slows to a crawl, and what Claus saw earlier stands over his opponent. It now resembles a human – one which makes the ginger freeze.

_This can’t be real._

“ _Claus,_ ” his mother murmurs. Hinawa shakes her head, then disappears a second time.

The commander jumps up and looks around. His arm cannon is raised. Claus sneaks toward the seventh needle, keeping an eye on him. But his opponent quickly returns to the ginger, firing another volley of beams and shield killers.

The two fight and fight, sticking close to one another. But the commander blocks every bat swing, and Claus blocks every sword swipe. The ginger thrusts his bat forward, and his opponent counters. Their weapons lock. Both gingers push against each other with all their strength, Claus gritting his teeth. The sword’s electricity buzzes through the bat, trough his body, and to the Franklin badge. The ginger’s arms wobble, and with one shove from the commander, he slides backward.

“ _Lucas, stop this,_ ” Hinawa’s voice echoes.

The commander’s sword arm trembles, and Claus repositions himself.

_“You aren’t Porky’s robot. You’re my son!”_

Once more, their mother disappears, leaving both gingers to glare at the spot where she’d stood.

The commander moves his mouth, but nothing comes out. He looks around again.

“That’s Mom,” the ginger murmurs. “You remember Mom, don’t you?”

The commander stares at Claus, his face twitching. And he aims his arm cannon.

They keep fighting. During that time, the ginger manages to smash his bat into the commander’s eyepiece, shattering it and revealing a mangled patch of pale skin fused with metal. Blood pours down his face, dripping onto and being absorbed by the ground.

Eventually, the commander leaps back across the needle, keeping himself at a distance. Glowing, he points his sword into the air. Another PK Love forms over it.

_Not this time._

Claus concentrates and covers his body in a PSI Counter. He  raises his arms and shields his face. Between the gaps, he sees the commander swipe his sword. The attack hurtles toward him …

“Claus, look out!”

. . . and Flint jumps between the two. The PK Love connects. And Claus can only watch as his father becomes the center of a huge explosion.

“Dad?” he mumbles.

The smoke fades. Flint’s still standing, but he’s hunched over. His clothes burn. 

“Lucas,” he says. “Please remember. I’ve been looking for you for so long.”

The commander closes his eye; light from the needle reflects off the metal where his other one used to be, and the wind rises and falls. Inch by inch, the robot lowers his sword.

Claus takes a step toward Flint, intent on healing him. It echoes. He takes another, and another, and another… .

The commander’s eye shoots open, and his sword shoots back up. He glows again.

The ginger charges, jumping over the Needle. Above his opponent, the PK Love grows bigger and bigger. Squinting his eyes, Claus lifts the baseball bat over his head. He’s a few inches away.

The commander swipes his sword. Another explosion.

Claus starts to look back. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the robot running toward him.

_Dad._

The ginger’s grip on his bat tightens. And he unleashes a scream, swinging the bat around as though it were part of his body. It blurs through the air and smashes into the commander’s helmet, knocking him sideways. He lands in a heap near the plateau’s edge. Panting, Claus turns and faces his father.

Flint lies on the ground, slowly crawling his way out of the plateau. Most of his clothes have burned away. The skin underneath is red.

“Dad!”

Claus starts running toward his father. And something hot strikes the ginger’s back, shoving him down. The baseball bat flies out of his hand, landing at and rolling away from his side. He glances back.

The commander is getting up. His helmet has fallen to pieces, revealing blond hair that vaguely resembles the head of a duster. And his face looks just like Claus’s.

The ginger stands and Lifeups himself. Flint now rests beside the others – motionless – and Kumatora is reaching for him. If Lucas doesn’t notice, at least they’ll all stay alive.

Spinning around, Claus sees a second beam flying in his direction, and he sidesteps it. They charge at each other, and the fighting resumes.

Each time Claus moves close, he gets a good look at the commander’s face. And each swing of his bat either stops just before connecting or hits his opponent like a pillow. At the same time, the commander keeps tearing into him.

A few minutes pass, and Hinawa reappears.

 _“You and Claus are brothers!”_  she says, her voice echoing.

But they keep fighting.

_“Can you hear me? You’re Lucas. Your name is Lucas! You’re our son.”_

The commander stops and looks around. Claus glares at him.

_I have to._

The ginger shuts his eyes, takes a breath, and concentrates. Warmth leaves his body, gathering overhead. A moment later, his eyes shoot back open, and with a swing of his bat, he sends a blast of PK Love hurtling toward his brother.

An explosion of light envelops Lucas. The blond sinks to his knees, dropping his sword, which lands with a  _clunk_ against the ground. He looks up at Claus, eyes watering, before collapsing. He doesn’t move anymore.

The ginger stands over and stares down at Lucas’s body, panting. His hands tremble.

_I did it._

He drops his bat.

_I did it._

The ginger buries his face into his hands. Tears fall through the cracks of his fingers and splatter against his brother’s uniform.

Arms slide around his body. Cold air sinks inside, making him shiver.

“Let it out,” Hinawa whispers. “You both must’ve been so exhausted.”

Claus opens his mouth. For a moment, all it does is hang open. Until he starts to wail.

Hinawa’s arms tighten. Soon, another pair joins them, and then another, and then another… . Soon, he barely has room to move. Nobody else says a word. And the wind rises and falls.

 _It was for the best… ._ Claus repeats the thought over and over. Do the others think so too? Do they think he was too hasty? In the end, it doesn’t matter; Porky has failed. All that’s left is to pull the Needle.

The ginger slips out of everyone’s grasp and slowly walks toward the Needle. He glances back; his family – Mom, Dad, Kumatora, Duster, and Boney – watch. They whisper things like, “You can do it,” and, “You’re strong,” and, “It’s what he’d want.”

Claus now stands before the Needle, gripping the handles. His knuckles turn white.  And his head hurts. He glances at the group again. And beside Hinawa, a blond boy stands, his face looking just like Claus’s.

_I can do it._

He pulls. And the wind rises.


End file.
